A newsagent having a dispute with the software provider found themselves locked out of their system when they opened for business one day recently. Help from an expert showed that overnight their system had been ‘updated’ and access blocked. While the legalities of such action by a newsagent software company can be tested elsewhere, my warning to newsagents is to check who has access to your computer system and why.
No software company ought to have access to your computer system without your permission and knowledge. The story recounted in this blog post is the fourth such incident I have seen this year. It demonstrates the risk to newsagents who may find themselves in a disputer with their software providor.
I urge newsagent to bar access by outside parties. I also urge newsagents to refuse licence agreements which require annual licence fees – separate from software support – as it is through such licence agreements that access such as this is often managed.
This is one of the main reasons we swapped over to tower some 2yrs ago. We pay tens of thousand of dolllars for the software and hardware at setup and after that it should be ours, not the suppliers. I see support as an entirely different matter that does need yearly renewal. I agree with Mark, read the terms of the contract before you sign up and if you are not happy then shop around.